Snowboard Kids A FanFic : Volume 1
by Dentarg
Summary: An fictional storyline of the Snowboard Kids, from the mind of Michael A. Melendez
1. Chapter 1: A Brief Intro

*Note: This is a Fan Fic made by a fan of the game series "Snowboard Kids" and is in no way trying to pull anyone from the true focus of Snowboard Kids.  
  
It was a typical day at Snow Town Elementary, everyone rushing to their classes before the bell would sound. It was in Mrs. Steeder's Math Class that this story began its course.  
  
Slash Kamei, a boy of 10 years, with slick black and spiked hair was grumbling as he scribbled answers and different equations in his workbook, angry of the class, and just simply wanting to get out of class so that he can do what he does best, Snowboard! Slash groaned as he approached a difficult equation, constantly flipping his pencil between lead and eraser, almost ripping his workbook page.  
  
"Darn school." Slash complained to himself, "I'm not gonna be using this 'education' that my parents seems to want me to have." Slash scribbled down more and more, his pencil was getting dull, and his paper was getting weakened by all the erasing. Finally, the paper tore, Slash tore a large hole in his own workbook page as he was erasing an incorrect answer. Slash yelled with frustration, throwing his pencil down on the ground and yanking his hair. "Bah! Why do I have to do this?!"  
  
Mrs. Steeder marched up to Slash with her steely eyes glaring at him, Slash continued to rant and rave until he finally noticed Mrs. Steeder standing behind him, and he then looked up at Mrs. Steeder, who towered over him. Slash's jaw dropped, as he looked up at her. "Uhh, hello there teacher." Slash stuttered, but his words would not get him any help, as for his behavior, Mrs. Steeder gave Slash detention for his ranting, but also replaced his workbook with a new one.  
  
Many of the students looked at Slash as he walked down the aisle between the desks, heading to the back of the room as the teacher then ordered him to do afterwards. Slash plopped himself in the back desk chair, and put his head down.  
  
"You're back here too, eh?" a voice said from Slash's left.  
  
It was Jam Kuehnemund, Slash's Snowboarding buddy. Jam was a typical troublemaker, as well as a brat. Jam would take time out of his classes just so he could go outside, slap a tape into his boom box, and start dancing the day away to his favorite tunes. Jam is definitely a music fanatic, a lot more then many of the students in the school. Jam has the darkest skin in class, his hair is in many braids, and he wears a large striped Jamaican hat on his head.  
  
"How'd you get back here Jam?" Slash asked Jam. "They caught me ditching class finally." Jam replied, kicking his feet on the top of his desk, lazing in his seat. The teacher scolded at Jam for his laziness, and forced him to put his feet down. "Stupid teacher, who needs 'em?" commented Jam.  
  
"You said it Jam." Said Slash, "Hey, are you going to be doing anything after school, and detention? I was thinking of hitting the Grass Valley to do work on my cornering a bit, I've been lacking in that." "I'm not doing anything yet." Replied Jam, "But who knows, things might change in the blink of an eye like they usually do around here, I was thinking of 'jamming' Big Snowman actually, but we'll see, I might join you, depends on my mood at the end of the day."  
  
"Great!" cheered Slash. The lunch bell then rang, Slash and Jam jumped up from their chairs and dashed out the door to the cafeteria, hoping to get first in line. 


	2. Chapter 2: Meet the Gang

*Note: Once again, this fan fic is not in any way shape or form meant to pull the reader away from the original view of Snowboard Kids.  
  
Slash and Jam were on their way, running as fast as they could down the hall to the cafeteria to try and be the first in line. They approached the empty line, but just as they began to step forward, another person stepped in front of them, a girl with two brown ponytails, each tied with a yellow bow. She wore leopard skin pants and gloves, as well as a red swimsuit top, her belly button and stomach were visible, as the swimsuit didn't cover her entire body. She also had on red shoes that seemed to be of the latest creation. The girl was Linda Maltinie, she was the rich girl of Snow Town, her father being the owner of many of the Snowboard parks in Snow Town.  
  
"Hey, Linda, why don't you spend your money on something else instead of bribing the teacher to let you out early, huh?" Slash complained to Linda. Jam stepped back, knowing Linda already. Linda turned around sharply, following with a fist, biffing Slash straight in the nose! Slash squealed as he fell down, rubbing his now red nose. Linda stuck her big long nose in the air, huffing, and turning around to get her lunch.  
  
Slash got up, knowing to back off after that little attempt, Jam helped Slash to his feet, as they followed Linda to get their lunch. Lunch today was made up of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, as well as two sides, Broccoli and a Golden Delicious Apple. The lunch came also with a fruit soda of the buyer's choice, in Slash and Jam's case, they chose Orange Soda.  
  
They approached a lunch table and sat down, unloading their lunch trays and looking at each other's food. "Hey, the lunch ladies actually did something right for a change." Slash commented. Jam snickered at the comment, and took a bite out of his apple, looking across the room to a strange gathering that seemed to had started.  
  
Linda was standing up on a table, trying to hush everyone as she began to speak. "Yeah, you all heard me." She said in her rich girl voice. "My daddy made it official, today instead of recess, we're going to Rookie Mountain for some Snowboarding!" the kids around Linda cheered with all their might, loving Linda for what she seemed to be doing for the school. "Did you hear that Jam?!" Slash exclaimed, "Snowboarding instead of being stuck inside like they usually make us do at recess during the weekend! This is gonna be great!" "Yeah, it WOULD be great." Jam said, "If we weren't serving detention!"  
  
Slash's face went pale as he realized that Mrs. Steeder had in fact given him detention and slumped back into his seat, now demoralized. "Ugh, and I was hoping for some fun today." Slash went back to his lunch, eating his food and keeping his mind on what everyone was going to be doing, but not he and Jam, who would instead be sitting in desks losing part of their day.  
  
A girl walked over to Slash and Jam, the girl had on a tiara with bunny ears on it, she also had on a T-Shirt with many animals and such decorated on her shirt. She had two rosy circles on her cheeks, giving her a cute appearance. The girl, whose name was Nancy Neil, walked over and sat next to Slash,. "Hey Slash, are you alright? You look a little worked up." "Bah, it's nothing." Slash replied, "Just a bit frustrated from class, that's all." "You're lying Slash, I can tell you are, I always could." Nancy said back to Slash, giggling as she did. Slash sighed and replied, "Alright, alright. Well, you hear how Linda set up that trip to Rookie Mountain, well, Jam and I can't go, since we got detention, so I am a bit upset at it." "Aww, why can't you explain to the teach and try to apologize for what you did?" Nancy suggested.  
  
"It's because he's a spoiled brat!" Linda's voice boomed from a couple tables downward, obviously Linda had been hearing the entire conversation. Linda casually walked over to Slash and Jam's table, sitting down across from them, looking them over as if she were their boss. "So you got detention huh Slash?" Linda egged on Slash, "Sounds a pity, I was hoping to give you some trouble at Rookie Mountain as we took the ride down the hill." "Shut up Linda!" Slash replied, "If I was going to the Mountain, I'd be leaving your frozen bikini-butt 2 feet deep in snow!" "Is that a challenge?" Linda said casually. "Alright then, tell you what Slash, I'll bail you out of detention, and we'll have a party race, 4 people down the hill, 5 laps, no time limit, all items legal, loser has to kiss the winner's feet, what do you say?" "You're on!" replied Slash without thinking.  
  
Linda grinned, flicking her hair back as she stood up. "By the way, dear Slash, my daddy recently bought me a Star Board, I hope you've been saving your money, you'll need a lot to beat me." Slash's eyes widened, and he groaned and slammed his head on the table. Linda walked back to her own table and sat down, returning to eating her lunch.  
  
A rather large boy began running down the table isle, diving after a sandwich that someone had started dropping; a large thud could be heard as he began to slide on the ground. He caught the sandwich in his mouth, and then crashed into the wall, another large thud being heard. The boy got up, took the sandwich out of his mouth for a split second, looked at it, and then swallowed the sandwich in one big gulp. The boy was extremely fat, his bulky stomach almost pushing the tables to the side when he walked down the aisle. A large bandage lay atop his nose, from so many crashes he's been in. The boy was Tommy Parsy, the heaviest kid in school.  
  
Nancy sighed and looked at Tommy, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, why do you have to go after every scrap of food people drop? Eating THAT much is SO unhealthy, you're gonna get sick!" Tommy just looked at Nancy, then not surprisingly, reached for an unguarded lunch tray, snagged the apple from it, and began to eat it. "Mmmph, oi'm mmmnot gomma met mmmick." Tommy replied with his mouth full, Nancy gagged at Tommy's disgusting habits, and went back to Slash.  
  
"Well, now that Linda's challenged me, I can't afford to lose, or I'll look more like a freak then I need to be." Slash said, "I'll need you guys to try and help me out, if you can." "Umm, we don't want to be kissing Linda's feet either, or YOUR feet Slash." Jam said, "So we're all in this for ourselves I guess."  
  
Slash grumbled to himself, looking up, trying to think of a way he would be able to beat Linda and the other kids in the Race at Rookie Mountain. 


	3. Chapter 3: The Race

After a bit of talking with Mrs. Steeder, Linda came back and told Slash that he was cleared to go along to Rookie Mountain with the rest of the gang. "You better not chicken out either Slash." Linda insisted, "You do, I'll make sure you pay for it." Linda shook a fist and then proceeded outside to get on the bus.  
  
Slash and Jam followed; Jam grinning as he was not cleared to leave. "What are you doing Jam?" Slash asked Jam, "You're gonna get into even bigger trouble if you sneak on the bus." "Not like I'm already in trouble for ditching." Jam said. "Now let's get to the mountain!"  
  
Jam snuck on the bus with Slash, as Mrs. Steeder wasn't going on this trip, sneaking on the bus was very easy. Off the class went to Rookie Mountain, the Rookie Mountain Staff greeted the class as they got off the bus, the manager shaking Linda's hand, welcoming her and the class to the mountain.  
  
"Alright everyone, you all have an hour to practice, and then we're starting the races!" Linda shouted, getting on her board and already heading down the mountain. Slash and Jam grabbed their own boards out of the bus, and also took down the mountain quickly.  
  
Slash felt a lot more at home while boarding down the slopes, the cool air and the cold snow felt good upon him as he blew through it all, he grinned, handling the turns of the track with ease, grabbing his board and showing off with some basic yet impressive tricks off of the jumps. Jam began humming a song in his head, his humming turning into a howl as he hit the jumps, doing a trick as he howled all the way down.  
  
Finally, the time of the race had come, Slash, Jam, and Linda lined up at the starting line. "Hey." said Slash, "Where's the fourth racer?" "He's coming Slash..." said Linda, fixing her hair. From the lift, Tommy jumped down and stopped at the starting line. "I'm here." said Tommy, his mouth not bulging with food this time.  
  
Mr. Dog floated down in his hot air balloon, looking at the racers, and then firing his gun in the air. Linda took an early lead, leaping far into the front of everyone; she shook her Star Board at everyone as she did a flip on the first banked turn, using it as a jump. Slash and Jam looked down at their own boards, Jam was using a Level 2 Alpine, while Slash was using a Level 3 All Around, and Tommy was surprisingly using a Level 3 All Around instead of a Free Style like he usually does. After the first lap, Linda had a demanding lead, while Slash, Jam, and Tommy, in that order, trailed behind.  
  
Linda began grabbing rocks off of the course, throwing them in the track to give everyone else problems, she then swooped down the last stretch and jumped onto the lift, completing her second lap. Jam and Slash had an easy time getting around her rocks, but Tommy suffered a lot from the rocks, hitting virtually every rock that was in his way, Tommy was practically out of the competition, as he was too far behind to even be a challenge anymore.  
  
Two more laps passed, Jam and Slash beginning to gain on Linda, while Tommy trailed hopelessly behind, now only boarding for his own fun. On the final lap, Slash began to close in on Linda, he aimed a snowball at Linda and threw it at her, and Linda took the hit in the back of the head and toppled over, crashing into a banked turn.  
  
Slash knew he was going to win, but unfortunately, he didn't expect what came next. Slash just then hit a large rock that Linda left out from the last lap; he flipped, and slammed his head into the side railing, Linda and Jam then were neck and neck as they approached the last jump. Jam grinned as he pulled a bomb from his coat, aiming it at Linda and throwing it at her. Jam made a bad mistake, as he aimed incorrectly, Linda disappeared with the power of an invisible tool, and the bomb hit the wall just as Jam was approaching it, the bomb instead hitting Jam!  
  
Linda blazed into the goal victorious, shaking her hips, grinning as her swaying hips taunted Jam and Slash. 


	4. Chapter 4: Aftermath & A New Challenge

Slash groaned as he finished in third, and Jam had even beaten him, Slash felt quite obliterated by the entire event, and even broke out into ranting about unfair advantages and whatnot. Linda wagged her finger at Slash, "I believe someone owes me a foot-kissing?" Linda shook her nose snobbishly at Slash, who went white in the face from her words. "But just so you know, I don't want your gross, dirty lips on my nice clean feet." Linda sneered, "Just the mere pleasure of beating you is good enough for me!" She let out her loud, evil-like laugh and then hopped over to the Lift- In to get back to the top of the slope.  
  
Slash fell to his knees, and punched his fist in the snow, angered by Linda's attitude. "That damn girl, all she ever does is talk, buy top quality gear, and beat everybody with things only she buys, I've gotta get back at Linda somehow, I just gotta!" Slash hopped over to the Lift-In, a bit upset at his loss.  
  
Jam too was feeling the painful effects of defeat. Jam threw down his hat and began shouting and hollering like a baby, he took his board off his feet and threw it over into a nearby patch of snow. He ran over to grab his board, still angered, he ran over to the lift in after getting his board, slumping into the seat, and looking up at everyone as he headed up.  
  
The class seemed to cheer as Linda approached the top of the hill, seeming happy she won her own race challenge, the only few not cheering were Slash, Jam, Tommy, and Nancy. Slash and Jam walked over to Nancy, looking over at Linda and the crowd that was celebrating her win. "Soda and Hot Dogs for the whole class!" yelled Linda as she was carried away by her classmates.  
  
Nancy patted Slash's back gently, trying to cheer him up, but Slash still was red in the face from both exhaustion and anger. "Slash, you did your best, that's all we can ask." Nancy said. "NO!" Slash yelled back, "I could have done better, I could have won! Just because she has a better board doesn't mean I couldn't have beaten her!"  
  
"You really couldn't have helped her having a better board then you." Jam said to Slash, "She's the rich girl in the town, but hey, there's ways of beating her, even we've beaten her our own times Slash, it's just another bum run for us this time, we'll have our day again." Jam blinked at his own words, almost stunned by what he just told Slash. Slash blinked as well, but seemed to understand the little speech Jam gave. "You know, you're right Jam." Slash replied. "I've beaten her at Dizzy Land, Grass Valley, and even Ninja Land, this one loss isn't gonna have me bawling into tears!" Slash jumped up, feeling a lot better. "Thanks a lot Jam, that helped a lot." He gave Jam a high-five, picked his board back up off the ground, and walked over towards the crowd.  
  
Nancy smiled, seeming to feel a lot better that Slash was a lot more confident. She leaned on her board and watched as Slash approached the crowd and Linda being carried by the crowd.  
  
Linda caught Slash out of the corner of her eye, and hopped down from the crowd to face Slash eye to eye. "If you're still looking to kiss my feet, don't bother." She said, chuckling to herself. "I'm not here to kiss any disgusting feet of yours, you little..." Slash replied and cut himself off, getting a very interesting idea. "Hey Linda, how about a little wager, since it seems you can ALWAYS beat me, now that you have a Star Board." "Oh, what would make me want to race you again when I know I can win?" Linda spoke back, giving him a look.  
  
Slash began to describe to Linda of the course called Night Highway, Linda had never been to Night Highway before, and Linda was intrigued by this challenge. "Hmm, what's the catch?" Linda said, as she tapped her foot. "Whoever wins gets everyone else's boards!" Slash said. Everyone's eyes widened as they heard Slash's stakes, thinking Slash was going insane. "Why would I race you for your crummy board, and anyone else's crummy board?" Linda asked, giving him another look. Slash winced a bit, then spoke. "Because I am going to be using a board that I've never used before, that is extremely hard to come by, I got it for winning a Snowboard Tournament a while ago, and I haven't used it at all." Linda raised an eyebrow, then spoke, "Let me see this so-called 'rare board', and I'll consider it." Slash nodded, "Meet me after school, Jam, Nancy, Tommy and I will take you to my place to see it, so they can also see what they can play for."  
  
Linda agreed, shaking Slash's hand, grinning, believing to herself that she had this race in the bag, but Linda had never been to Night Highway, and in a way, she felt some doubt for herself. 


	5. Chapter 5: The Board & The Risk

The ride back to school was uneventful, a couple of paper balls being thrown at people, but nothing too serious. The class arrived back at school, Mrs. Steeder was standing at the front door, her arms folded, and looking at the bus as it drove up. Jam saw Mrs. Steeder and gulped. "Oh boy, she's gonna get me now." Jam said, beginning to sweat. "Not if we're smarter then she is!" Slash replied, taking a clear plastic bag off of the ground, wrapping it on Jam's hair, holding his hair down. Slash stashed Jam's hat in his pocket, and they walked off the bus.  
  
Surprisingly, Mrs. Steeder did not notice Jam, thinking he was just another boy on the trip, and he was able to pass by Mrs. Steeder without being noticed. Slash walked over to Mrs. Steeder to talk to her, "Mrs. Steeder, Jam wanted me to tell you he left ill after lunch, I guess he got some bad food and he ended up getting sick from it." Mrs. Steeder didn't seem to buy the story, but she nodded, acknowledging the story, and Slash ran in the school.  
  
The school day continued and finished like any other, a boring session of English, some round-the-globe studying with Social Studies, and the typical short story in Literature class. Finally, the bell sounded, and the kids met up in front of the school, Jam ripped the bag off his head, crumpled it up, and tossed it aside. "Great, now I gotta fix my hair again." Jam said, looking at his mangled hair.  
  
Linda leaned on one of the school front door columns, her head down, and her back against the wall, she looked tired for some reason. "Hey. Linda." Slash said. "You alright?" Linda looked up; her face was a bit worked up from something. "I.bah, it's nothing." Linda said, rubbing her eyes, trying to fix herself up. "So, where's this board of yours Slash?" Slash motioned Linda to follow, and they both grouped with the rest of the Snowboard Kids, and left for Slash's house.  
  
After a bit of a walk back up Snowboard Street, they got to Slash's house, Tommy was panting quite hard after the long walk, stuffing a burger he bought from a restaurant up the hill into his mouth. Nancy shook her head again at Tommy, but didn't say anything, thinking it pointless. Linda took out a makeup kit and began fixing her worked-up face, she looked a lot better after she finished, she then clapped it shut, and slipped it back into her pocket. Jam on the other hand, was still fidgeting with his hair, still wanting it to be as he had it before, but the frizzing from the plastic bag had truly made his hair quite a jumble.  
  
They walked in Slash's house, and sat down on the couch, looking around. Linda had never been in Slash's house, only seeing it from the outside. She found the house to be surprisingly clean, until she got a glimpse of Slash's room, which looked worse then a tornado striking....  
  
Slash asked Linda to come upstairs to see the board, as he seemed that he only wanted one person at a time looking at it, so Linda approached the stairs, and went up to look at it. Linda folded her arms as she entered Slash's room, trying to stay in the only clean corner of the room. The room was strewn with clothes littered all over the floor, candy wrappers, gum, and other sorts of miscellaneous do-dads all over the place. Slash rummaged in his closet for the board, and took out a large cloth covering something.  
  
"Alright Linda, before I show it to you, I want you to promise NOT to touch it, at least not until you've either won it, or I allow you to, because this board is very old, and I can't really afford it being damaged." Slash seemed quite protective over the board, Linda seemed to respect that, and nodded. "Alright, I won't touch it." Linda said, a bit surprised at Slash's protectiveness over the board.  
  
Slash unveiled the cloth, revealing a glittering board, decorated with ancient engravings embossed in gold, silver lining along its sides, and bronze plating at the nose of the board. A dazzling flame engraving, painted with the colors of a sunset decorated the tail of the board, as if it were truly on fire. "They called it the Blaze Board when I got it." Slash said. "I have never used this board before as I said, as I don't know exactly what it'll do. All I know is, if you win, it's yours."  
  
Linda looked at the board with both wonder and with wanting, she truly wanted the board, but other things also were running through her mind. "Slash, I know I shook on the race, but I do have something to show you as well." Slash put the cloth back on the board, and put it back in his closet. "What?" Slash asked. Linda took out her cell phone, and played a message in it, it was a doctor at the local hospital, and here is how the message played.  
  
"Hello, Linda Maltinie, this is Doctor McCarthy at the Snow Town Intensive Care Hospital, I have some news for you, as well as for your father. I could not reach your father, so I left you a message instead. Your mother's case of pneumonia unfortunately has worsened, this is a case of pneumonia I have never seen before, and we have found no way whatsoever to bring your mother's temperature down. We've tried antibiotics, antihistamines, the works, but nothing is working on your mother. Her temperature has elevated to a grave level of 107.5, if we do not find a way to help her soon, and I will be honest, you may not have a mother anymore. I am sorry to bear you this ill news, but I wanted to be truthful with you, it will mean much to your mother if at some time you could even come in and give her comfort, she is no longer contagious, but comfort may aid her. Thank you for listening, and I wish the best of luck for your family."  
  
Upon hearing this again, Linda burst into tears, still broken up from hearing of her mother's condition, falling to her knees and holding herself up with her arms. Slash couldn't believe Linda could ever begin crying this badly, as he thought Linda was a stuck-up brat (Which she tends to be), this display seemed to show that she actually had a heart of some sort. Slash helped Linda back up, she wiped her eyes, still crying. "Linda, why are you showing me this?" Slash asked. "In a way it has nothing to do with our race, but I can now see why you looked so gloomy a while ago, I mean, if my mom was suffering that much."  
  
Linda gripped her fists, biting back the pain she was feeling. "I will still race you Slash." She said, with a more determined voice. "I just, was hoping, though you all really don't have much of a liking to me, because of my attitude, perhaps you could come and visit my mother with me, after the race."  
  
Slash was a bit unsure of her request, visiting the mother of his arch rival, after she had just begun crying her eyes out in front of him. Slash ran his fingers through his own hair, then spoke. "Okay Linda, after the race I'll take a stop with you over at the hospital, even I have feelings." Linda nodded, her crying calming down, she walked back downstairs, grabbing a tissue and trying to recover from her crying.  
  
"Whoa." Jam said as Linda came down the stairs, "What happened to you? Slash beat you up or something?" Linda followed his comment up with a very familiar fist-to-nose connection, Jam fell over, twitching a bit, muttering to himself. "I knew I shouldn't have said that..."  
  
Linda wiped away her tears and recovered a bit, Slash asked the rest of the kids up one by one to see his board, Linda then left Slash's house before everyone else finished looking, leaving a note to everyone on the table in front of the couch.  
  
"Everyone, meet me on the race day in front of my house, and then take me to Night Highway, Signed: Linda Maltinie"  
  
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- The Snowboard Kids will continue, the Night Highway race will soon come, keep updated for the next chapter. Chapter 6: A Race for Life 


	6. Chapter 6: A Race for Life

The school day passed quickly, but this day the kids tried to act on their best behavior, due to try and avoid another detention by Mrs. Steeder or anyone else. After school, Tommy, Slash, Jam, and Nancy all began to meet up in front of Linda's House as was planned.  
  
Linda's house was extremely big, looking more like a castle then a house *Which it actually was a castle* , it was alongside the middle of Snowboard Street, it's grassy lawn stretching over the street as if it were overgrown from the household. The house was surrounded by a large steel bar fence, also by lavish gardens and gazebos all over. The driveway in Linda's house was made with engraved cobblestones, pictures of Linda and her relatives encrusted in the cobblestone, adding to the beauty of the area. Though many of the kids just would say, "It's just a house." in their minds they did truly want a house like it, and perhaps one day would have it."  
  
They approached Linda's door and rang the doorbell, which was actually a long rope. As they let go, a song began to play, the song sounded like the theme music they would play in the Sunset Rock Lobby a ways from Linda's House, perhaps it was one of Linda's favorite songs. Either way, a tall butler answered the door and looked down at the kids. "Can I help you?" he said in a deep, baritone voice. "Is Linda here?" Slash asked, looking partly into the house. "She said she'd meet us here at her house."  
  
"Mrs. Maltinie is here, I will send word to her." The butler replied in his deep voice. The butler allowed the four to sit on a large, luxurious sofa that stretched across one side of the foyer of her house. The butler then walked up a tall fleet of stairs to find Linda.  
  
"Wow, I rarely come in Linda's house, but when I do, I can't help but wonder where she keeps the food in here, where's her kitchen?" Tommy said, looking around curiously. "Tommy, for once, please think of something else other than food!" Jam outburst, seeming to finally be fed up with his want for food. "If Linda wanted us to have any food here, she would have had it on the table already." Tommy looked on the table, and found a large bowl of fruit. "Well, that's on the table, I guess I can eat that!" he said as he hungrily dashed for the fruit, he bit into a large apple that was on top of the bowl, then gagged and spit out the apple bite on the polished wood floor. "Auk! That tastes gross!" Tommy groaned and ran his tongue on his teeth, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. "You idiot, that's wax!" Jam said, shaking his head in disbelief that Tommy couldn't tell the difference.  
  
Nancy was looking at Slash during the entire Wax Apple incident, wondering what was going through his mind. Nancy then moved over to Slash, who was fidgeting with his fingers, thinking of what was going to happen at Night Highway. "You can't be choking at the last minute Slash." Nancy assured him, "You've got more experience on this course than Linda does, she has none in Night Highway, so you have the advantage." Slash looked over to Nancy, and stopped fidgeting. "I may be able to beat her, just hope I don't take more then just her board when I beat her." Slash joked.  
  
Linda walked downstairs behind her butler, who was escorting her down the stairs, Linda was dressed well for the event, and in her right arm she held her trusty Star Board. She walked down to Slash and the kids, and looked them over. "Alright." Linda said. "Let's get going, Slash, you know where Night Highway is, I don't, so you're going to have to give Yanci, my butler, directions. We'll take my daddy's car."  
  
The Kids walked out the front door, accompanied by Yanci, who then opened the garage door a ways down to the right of the front door. The kids looked at the large car that was inside, a very detailed and clean limousine that had Linda's colors and name engraved on the side in gold lettering. The kids entered from the back door of the car, and sat down in the leather-cover seats that were set up inside the car. Yanci then started up the car, but stopped abruptly to ask Slash to sit up front with him to give the directions. Slash jumped over the front seat and buckled up next to Yanci, and began to navigate for Yanci.  
  
About ten minutes later, they were at the top of a very steep-looking highway dip, which chicaned and twisted downwards through many crazy tunnels and causeways, this was, of course, the Night Highway. The kids piled out of the car and sat on a bench on the side, preparing to get on their gear. Slash, the only one not sitting, yelled out to them. "Wait, wait, WAIT!" he shouted. "We can't race now, it's not after dark! If we race now there's going to be cars out there, and we'll get hit!" The kids' eyes widened, and they stopped equipping themselves. Linda looked to Slash and asked, "Well then, what do we do for 50 minutes?" "You can practice on the hill over there; no traffic runs on that street ever." Slash said, "Just watch out for the potholes, they hide in the snow sometimes." Linda nodded and went to practice, swaying up and down the hill, practicing side, tail, and nose grabs, as well as nailing a few 360's and flips.  
  
The time passed, the sun had begun to set behind the hills, the sun then disappeared behind the snowy hills and all became dark. A few seconds later, street lights began flipping on the highway, lighting up the street before them. "Welcome to Night Highway." Slash boasted, "You can only see the true Night Highway after the street lights go on, otherwise you might not be able to see it, and you'll end up falling off a cliff or something, not that it'd be a bad thing for some people." Slash snickered, Linda gave him a look, knowing it was directed at her, she got on her Star Board, and approached the starting line. "Well, who's racing with us?" Linda said as she looked at the remaining kids.  
  
Slash had already been standing at the starting line, holding the cloth-covered Blaze Board up next to him, waiting for everyone to be ready. Nancy got up, picked up her very impressive-looking Alpine Board, and got on it at the starting line. Jam and Tommy looked at each other, and decided to play a small game of rock, paper, scissors for who could go. Jam won, celebrated a little bit, and got on his board and swooped to the starting line. "There are 3 laps for the Night Highway." Slash warned everyone. "Make sure you all are able to keep up!"  
  
Tommy, a bit upset that he lost, decided to substitute for Mr. Dog, he took out a little pop-gun and aimed it at the air, looking at the kids. "You all ready?" He said, the kids nodded to him, a determined look in their eyes. He pulled the trigger, the blast went off, and the kids were off.  
  
Jam was able to take an early lead, swooping down the first corridor, under the metal causeway and nailing a nose grab off the small jump after it. He quickly lost the lead, as a quick slapstick smacked him over, and he went face first into the snow, getting a good mouthful of it. Nancy was able to get a quick 360 spin off the small jump, and jumped right over Jam, taking the lead from him.  
  
Slash followed behind Nancy, and Linda behind Slash. Slash began to aim carefully at Nancy's board, holding an Ice Shot in his hand; he fired the shot, and hit Nancy dead center, freezing her right before the next jump. Slash continued on, performing his "Slash Dynamite" over the jump, Linda gave an amused look at Slash's trick, and jumped in the air as she performed her own trick, the Whirligig, spinning twice in the air, and landing perfectly, just as Slash had landed.  
  
Linda focused herself, using the momentum of her Star Board, she jumped the next jump, doing a vertical flip, holding the nose of her board at the same time, as she came down, she did not expect what was coming up, a very skinny road yawned before her, no guardrails or walls would prevent her from falling, she panicked, and began to lose speed, Jam took this to his advantage and sped by Linda, Nancy close behind. Linda cautiously made the turn, and then the next jump, doing a simple side grab to help her restore her confidence.  
  
Slash in the meantime was gaining a commanding lead, he took a small shortcut that had been open on the bottom of another jump, and used it to gain good distance between him and the pack. He approached the next metal causeway, and jumped over a small river that was ahead, he then looked at the humongous jump that he was coming towards, he performed another Slash Dynamite as he jumped it, landing safely at the bottom of the hill, where the lift was waiting for him.  
  
The other kids were then beginning to catch up as Slash approached the lift, Linda still lingered behind the pack, still trying to get a feel of the course, she missed the shortcut as did Nancy, but Jam pulled away from the pack as he took the shortcut, already knowing about it. Linda looked at Nancy, aimed a Parachute pack at her, threw it and continued down the side, she looked over to Nancy and said, "Nothing personal." then Nancy looked behind her, was unable to move away in time, and ended up being hoisted into the air, looking down at Jam and Linda sliding down further away from her. Nancy sighed, feeling she would not be able to make it to the rest of them in time.  
  
As everyone finished the first lap, Slash had a demanding lead, Jam was a bit behind him, Linda was not that far from Jam, and Nancy trailed behind, still back a ways from the pack. Slash was quite confident in himself, he was quite happy that he was doing quite well instead of trailing behind like he felt he was at Rookie Mountain. As he was making the turn into the first metal causeway, SMACK! A pan landed flat on his head, as well as on Jam and Linda, Nancy then raced by Linda, and approached Jam as he was getting up, as he did get up, she threw a small white ball at him, it hit him, and Jam found himself stuck inside of a snowman! As he was already on a slope heading up, he began sliding the opposite direction! This gave Linda back her third place, but left Jam in a bad position.  
  
Slash approached the unguarded road, and slid down it with ease, but as he began to finish it, he too was smacked by a white ball, and turned into a snowman! Because he was unable to turn, Slash slid down off the road, and into a thick mound of snow, he groaned, quite dazed from the fall, he then climbed back up the side of the road, and got back on his board. Linda had already passed Slash from his fall, and Jam was catching up behind him. Slash took out a bunch of pans, and threw them up in the air, BOOM! Linda, Jam, and Nancy all felt the impact of pans smacking down on their heads, while they were dazed, Slash skidded past Linda, and approached Nancy.  
  
Linda was furious after being smashed twice now, she let out a yell, and threw a bomb at Slash. Something very strange began to happen as the bomb neared Slash, the back of his board began to open up, as if to grab the bomb, and sure enough, it did! Slash looked back to see the bomb attached to his board, he screamed and prepared for the blast, but when the blast happened, it did in a way he did not expect. The bomb exploded, the board used the force of the bomb's explosion as a boost, and sent Slash flying forward as if he were a rocket! Slash's eyes widened as the board sent him blazing by Nancy, who was completely spellbound by the speed of the board. Slash then saw a large rock up ahead, he steered the board away, heading down the track as the bomb's force subsided, and he began going his normal speed again.  
  
Jam approached Linda, holding a slapstick in his hand, he came up quietly behind Linda, he threw the slapstick and knocked her over, what he didn't notice is that he threw two, and the other went and collided into Nancy! Using this luck, he sped away from the pack, taking second place for the second lap.  
  
Upon the start of the final lap, it was, from front to back, Slash, Jam, Nancy, and Linda. Linda began to doubt herself as she got off the lift for the last lap, looking at the course and then speeding down it again. She grabbed hold of a cache of bombs, and flung them down the course like a madwoman, she was lucky enough to blast Nancy with a couple of them, and she took third away from Nancy. Jam was catching up to Slash, who had just begun approaching the second metal causeway, he quickly threw a bomb at Slash, but as before, the board grabbed the bomb, and sped him quickly ahead, but this time, it cost Jam and the others the race, as it allowed Slash to blaze into the finish line, fast enough to biff his nose on the end wall.  
  
Slash finished first, Jam in second, Linda in third, and Nancy tailing in fourth. Nancy didn't really care about losing, though she was going to miss her board. Linda, who was already upset, looked down as she finished, she was both sad and happy at the same time, but she was also more worried of her mother than of what she lost. Slash smiled and jumped up, cheering himself as he had won the race.  
  
Slash ordered everyone to line up in front of him with their boards, the kids already knew they took the risk, so they all lined up single-file, holding their boards for Slash. Jam walked up to Slash, holding his board out to him, "It's a good Alpine Board Slash, a year 1999, definitely a classic for a good trickster like me, hope you like it." Jam said as he handed him a board that had multiple signatures on it.  
  
Next, Nancy came up to Slash with her own board, another Alpine Board, but this one had, as Nancy loved, many bunnies and butterflies painted on it, but the strange thing is that the back of the Alpine board was pointed inward, like the back of an arrow, this must have been what gave Nancy some extra handling during the race.  
  
Finally, Linda approached Slash, her Star Board in her hands, Slash could see Linda was quite upset about losing the board, but probably more upset about her mother being sick, Linda pushed her board in Slash's arms. "Take it, just take it." She said, walking over to the lift. Slash looked over at Linda, who seemed a lot different now, she wasn't the crabby, snobbish brat he saw in school, but she seemed to have grown up a bit. Slash walked over to Linda's lift and sat down next to her, Linda grumbled at Slash, but didn't care she was sitting with her. "I wonder how my mom's doing." Linda said to herself, looking at the mountains as she rode the lift. "I'm sure she's fine." Said Slash, reassuring Linda. "Maybe they found a cure now, I bet you they did." Linda looked over to Slash, and for once, to Slash, without taunting him, smiled.  
  
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Chapter 7: The Fate of a Loved One, Will be ready soon! 


	7. Chapter 7: The Fate of a Loved One

The kids were driven back to Linda's House, the car stopped on the way to the door, to let the kids out of the car to go wait in the foyer of Linda's house again. Linda poked her head out of the car window and waved to them all, telling them she'd be with them later, also waving to her board as she was going to miss it. Slash and the kids waved back to Linda, and the car pulled in through the gates, and into the garage.  
  
Upon leaving the car, Linda went up to her room and plopped in her bed, Linda's room was of very brilliant design, the walls were painted with a brilliant tan-like color that amplified the sunlight that shone into the room from the overly large window that yawned across the back of the room. One side of the room had her bed, her nightstand for her glasses of water and for some morning cosmetics, as well as her dresser, mirror, closet which was filled to the brim with literally hundreds of different dresses and clothes. The other side of her room had her television, a sofa and recliner with a coffee table between them, another closet for board games, video games and game systems, as well as sleepover gear in case people were sleeping over (sleeping bags, flashlights, etc.)  
  
Linda put her face in a pillow and began thinking to herself, "Why did it have to be my mom who has to suffer like this? She's never done anything to deserve it, if anyone deserves it I do." She stirred in her bed uncomfortably, the thought of her mother not giving her any peace whatsoever. She then thought it best if she went to talk with the rest of the kids, and she still had 20 minutes before Yanci would come to take her to the hospital to see her mom, so she got out of her bed, flicked the light off, and walked out the door and down the long stairs to the foyer.  
  
The kids were sure enough there, Nancy had found a bunny just outside Linda's doorstep, and had brought it into her house to pet it, Linda cracked a smile, as she too liked bunnies, but not to Nancy's extreme. Jam had on a headset, was reclined in the couch, and was listening to some of his favorite bands, he bobbed his head back and forth, and at times to the side, he was quite happy right where he was. Tommy was stuffing his face with a couple hamburgers he had gotten at a restaurant he saw on the way back from Night Highway, "Good thing THESE aren't wax!" he said to himself.  
  
Linda then noticed Slash, he was on the other side of the foyer, sitting on the ground looking at the boards he won, also looking at his own board. Linda walked over to Slash and kneeled down to talk to him, Slash looked over to Linda and then back at his boards. "Mind if I take a look?" Linda asked Slash. Slash nodded, and Linda picked up the Alpine board Jam had lost to Slash. "Wow, it's got almost all of the New York rapping sensations on here!" she said, looking at it with interest. "You could sell that board for a fortune!" "I'm not selling it." Slash replied, looking at Nancy's board. "Oh, I didn't mean you would actually sell it, just meant that it's valuable." Linda said. Slash nodded again, knowing what she meant, and then looked at Nancy's board again. "How's her board?" Linda asked. "Umm, full of bunnies and butterflies." Slash replied, giving the board a questionable look. "Though I do like the arrowed end of the board, makes it a lot faster, but if you tried riding that board backwards, ugh, you'll be bulldozing snow right in your face, no wonder Nancy sometimes has trouble on Silver Mountain." Slash nodded to the board, put it down, and then picked up Linda's Star Board.  
  
Linda realized he was looking at her board, and looked at it herself. "How does it look?" she asked. Slash looked over the Star Board; he noticed there were no scratches, dents, or nicks in the board at all, not even from the rough ground of Night Highway. "How did you manage to get out of Night Highway without even dinging the board?" Slash asked Linda curiously. "I try to turn on the banked turns using the bank as support so I can get more speed, and if you're fast enough, a pile of gravel even seems like a smooth ride over." Linda replied, Slash gave Linda an unsure look, "How much wax you put on this board?" He asked her. "Not much actually, it doesn't need much as the wax I put on stays on for a long time." Linda boasted proudly.  
  
Linda then eyed Slash's board, the Blaze Board he had used. "I couldn't believe you pulled so far in front with that board." She said to Slash, giving him a surprised look, "I thought when you said "Blaze Board" you mean it would only go fast initially, like an Alpine Board, but that board pretty much gobbled up bombs, and then you blasted off like a rocket!" Slash grinned at her comment. "I didn't think it would do that either, it must've been what the flames meant at the back of the board." Slash replied, taking out some board wax and slowly coating his board with it. "To tell you the truth." Slash continued, "I almost fell off my board when it first did that. I thought I had grabbed a speed fan by mistake, but when I felt hot air coming from behind, and saw a bomb and fire, I almost thought it was going to knock me head first into a wall." Slash rubbed his board gently with the wax, making sure his board stayed in top shape. "What'd you get so talkative for all of the sudden?" he asked Linda.  
  
"I'm still worried, and I can't get it out of my head that my mom is at the hospital and not here with me." Linda said, now getting a bit teary from the subject being brought up. Linda rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of any signs of being sad, especially in front of all the kids at once, she hated making a scene of herself in a bad way, and it would ruin her reputation. "She's gonna be fine." Slash insisted. "If I know doctors, when they can't find a way to cure someone one minute, they find out a way in about 2 minutes later, those doctors just get you riled up." Linda shivered slightly, hoping Slash was right, Yanci then came walking down the stairs slowly, walking between the kids and announcing. "If you wish to go to the hospital to see you mother, Ms. Maltinie." Yanci said in his baritone voice, "It should be at this time, we would be there an hour before they close the hospital to visitors." Linda nodded, telling the kids to make their way out front so they could get into the limousine.  
  
The car pulled out front, being driven by Yanci as usual. Linda, this time, got in front and sat next to Yanci, the rest of the kids took seats in the back of the limousine and buckled themselves in, Linda buckled herself in as well, and then Yanci began driving to the hospital.  
  
"Aw, I didn't get to board this time." Tommy said, stuffing another burger into his mouth. "I was hoping to try and get a shot at that course." "Well, you lost." Said Jam, snickering to himself, remembering the small rock, paper, scissors game they had played beforehand. Tommy coughed as he heard Jam, choking a bit on his burger as he coughed it up back into his hand, Nancy gagged as she saw Tommy hurl back up his burger, luckily, Linda didn't hear it, and she wouldn't be yelling at Tommy for doing something disgusting. Tommy grumbled at Jam and hollered, "Hey, just because you won a small game doesn't give you the right to stomp me like that." Jam just gave him a look, wondering what Tommy was talking about, then just looked back down, ignoring him.  
  
They were about half way to the hospital, Linda had turned on some dance music for the rest of the kids, it was Linda's favorite station, and the rest of the kids were enjoying the music, Nancy even began dancing in her seat, Jam bobbed his head to the sides as he did with his headphones on, "Hey, it's not New York, but it's music, so it's good!" He said, grinning as he felt the beat to the music. Slash was being careful not to scoff the signatures on Jam's board as he waxed Jam's board, Tommy had been rummaging in a drawer that was next to his seat, and found a pack of M&Ms that had been left in it since last Easter (And it was November right now), he took the pack, ripped it open, and looked inside. "I wouldn't eat that." said Slash, realizing what the pack was, and when it was from, "You'll be the one sick and not Linda's mom if you eat that." Tommy winced at the thought, opened the window, and tossed the pack out the window. Tommy must have perfectly timed that, as the M&Ms spilled out as he through them out to a very close-by pedestrian, they spilled all over the poor man, and he slipped on the rock hard M&Ms and fell flat on his rear, rubbing his rear as he got up. The man shook his fist at the car as it passed out of sight.  
  
Finally, they were there, at Snow Town Hospital. It was a pretty average hospital, as far as hospitals are concerned, nurses in white suits, doctors in white coats and wearing things over their mouths, and tile hallways that stretched almost endlessly. Linda went up to the reception desk and pleaded, "Where is my mom? Her name is Mrs. Maltinie? I need to see her." The nurse at the desk moved to her computer, and quickly typed up Mrs. Maltinie's name, she then gave Linda a small piece of paper, reading aloud, "Room 274, floor 8." the nurse said. The phone at the desk rang, and the nurse answered it, quickly taking her eyes off Linda and the rest of the kids. "Alright everyone." Linda said to the kids, "She's on Room 274, on floor 8, let's go, she better be alright, I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't." the kids followed Linda to the elevator, they took it up to floor 8, they then walked down a corridor that felt like they ran a mile when they finally reached Room 274, on the door was even a file folder in a little holder that had written on it.  
  
"Mrs. Marlene Maltinie Patient 60536. Doctor: McCarthy"  
  
Linda quickly opened the door, and looked into the room, the room was quite dark, except for a lighted, yet curtained-off bed area in the other corner of the room. "Wait here, and don't come in until I tell you to." Linda said to the kids as she walked closer into the room. Linda felt around the room, making sure she wouldn't bump into anything. Linda almost stumbled on a cord that ran across the room, but she maintained her footing and reached over to the curtained area, peeking between the curtains.  
  
What she saw scared the very wits out of her, two doctors in their white coats and mouth pieces were around her mother, who was laying motionless, except for a hint of her breathing, in the middle of a bed. The doctors had hooked Mrs. Maltinie up to many machines, and she also had some ice packs around her, perhaps to cool her temperature. Linda looked around for any sign of hope for her mother, and sure enough, she found a digital thermometer had been hooked up to her mother as well. It read 107.4, which felt a little better, as it was at least a digit lower then previously told.  
  
"Can I help you little girl?" one of the doctors said, spotting her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry little girl, but you can't see what we're doing right now, you'll have to wait outside the room." Linda looked to the doctor with very pale eyes, and began to plead, "Please let me see my mom, I don't want her to die, please..." the doctor escorted Linda out of the room, though Linda did resist, she was forced out nonetheless. Linda had begun bawling in front of all the kids as she was brought out, she didn't care now if they had seen her or not, she was outright terrified for her mother.  
  
An hour passed, the kids were getting tired of hearing Linda's crying, they were stuck standing in a hallway, waiting for the doctors to finish in the room. Finally, the doctors stepped out of the room, and called Linda over to them. The doctor spoke, "You can go in now, she's resting, and we had iced her down so her temperature would go down, we're giving her some medicines that should restore her electrolytes, so her body can start fighting the sickness again."  
  
Linda worriedly walked into the room, seeing the curtains had been parted, so that she could her sick mother. Her mother was very cold to the touch, and sweating from the exhaustion of what her body was fighting. Linda put her hand upon her mother's forehead, feeling her clammy skin; Linda winced, almost as if she felt her mother's pain. "My god." Linda said weakly, pulling up a stool and looking at her mother sadly, Linda put her head down on her mother's side and began to sob, the rest of the kids began slowly entering the room, looking at Linda crying.  
  
"Geeze, she's really worked up." said Jam, looking at both Linda and her mother, "I think we did the right thing going with Linda to see her mother." Slash added. "I think this won't be the only time we'll see Linda like this." Nancy added, "I mean she can be mean and all, but even a mean and nasty person has a heart." Linda's mother finally began awakening, looking at Linda next to her, "Hello there, darling." Mrs. Maltinie said to her daughter, "What, are you doing here.?" she bit back some of her words from feeling pain within herself, Linda took hold of one of her mother's hands, and sobbed. "I wish this never happened to you mom." Linda said to her mother with tears in her eyes, "You're not the one who deserves this, since when do nice people get punished like this?" Mrs. Maltinie put her other hand behind Linda's head, comforting her, "It's not like that at all Linda." she said, "I merely got sick from something I caught, and I am recovering, if I make it through this, then I do, if I do not, then, I had a good life, if I do leave you, then may your father be both I and you, as I will be with you, always in spirit, not even me leaving can break that." Linda gave her mother a hug, and kissed her on the cheek, tears trickled down her eyes, an obvious sign she was seriously being torn apart by this. Slash and the kids looked as Linda was with her mother, they even had begun to tear up from the event, Tommy blew his nose inside a burger he was eating, Nancy pulled down one of the ears on her rabbit tiara and wiped her eyes with it, and Slash planted his face in Jam's hat while it was still on his head and was bawling. Jam too also had begun sobbing, and Linda was able to hear him.  
  
Linda turned around, looking at the rest of the kids, then looked back to her mother. "I have to go for now mom, I am going to stay here at the hospital, I don't want to leave you alone in here." Linda said to her mother. Mrs. Maltinie smiled to Linda, and nodded, she then closed her eyes to go to sleep.  
  
Linda motioned to Slash, Jam, Nancy, and Tommy to get out of the room, along with her. They all went back to the lobby, where Yanci himself was waiting for them.  
  
"Is Mrs. Maltinie alright Ms. Maltinie?" Yanci asked Linda. "She's still badly ill; they just gave her a new medicine." Linda said, "Hopefully by tomorrow we'll know how she does." Linda then went up to the reception desk to talk to the nurse, the nurse though, was on the phone with a friend of hers, and from what the conversation seemed, it was the nurse's boyfriend.  
  
Linda grumbled at waiting, went behind the desk, snatched the phone out of the nurse's hand and slammed it on the hook. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!" the nurse shouted at Linda, "Your 'sugar-lumpkins' can wait!" Linda yelled back at her, "I have a mom who is dying, and I need to ask you something about it, now LISTEN!" The nurse completely froze from hearing Linda's voice so loud, the kids though didn't at all find it surprising, as she would do that a lot at school.  
  
Linda talked to the nurse, and was able to get the nurse to let them stay overnight, when Linda came back to tell everyone what she had been talking to the nurse about, Jam stood up and gave her a look. "You mean we gotta spend the night with the sick guys and people in here?" he said. Slash too also began complaining of the same thing, Nancy was watching as they began arguing. Tommy on the other hand, got up and walked in between them all. "Alright, that does it." Tommy said, "I been too quiet, it's time I said something. I think we should all respect what Linda is doing, I mean look at her, she already let herself go in front of all of us, completely letting her tears flow right in the middle of the hallway, and right in front of her mom, she's really worried about it, and if Linda's any friend of yours, you'll stay and see this through, that's what I'm doing!" Tommy stomped his foot on the ground, and the kids all looked at him. Jam and Slash both had dropped their jaws at finally seeing Tommy stand up for someone, they then went over to Tommy and asked him to into the Guy's Bathroom for a minute. Tommy agreed, and they entered.  
  
As they entered, they all got into a corner and leaned on the walls. "Dude, you are the man!" Jam and Slash both said to Tommy, "It's about time you started getting into the picture, it's no wonder people ignore you when you don't get involved." Tommy nodded, knowing what they meant; he also shrugged and looked at them both. "Is that all you guys wanted?" Tommy asked, "Just to tell me congratulations?" "No, no, we also have something else to ask of you." Jam said. "Go ahead and tell him Slash." Slash nodded, and began speaking. "Alright, Jam and I were thinking of doing something for Linda after her mother gets out of the hospital, like giving her something, or doing something nice for her. We just don't exactly know what, so that's where we need you, we need you to help with us, so we can all find an idea that'll seriously surprise and make Linda happy, because she's gonna need a lot of happiness to get outta this slump she's in right now." Tommy nodded, knowing that what they were thinking of would be a very interesting idea. It possibly would even help him earn some face with the kids, perhaps make him a bit more recognized, rather than referred to as the burger-scarfing glutton they seemed to stereotype him as. "Alright." Tommy said. "I'm in, but let's figure out what to do AFTER her mom is out of the hospital, we've gotta keep Linda cooled off for now, who knows what she'll do if she's not." They agreed, and went back out, were Linda had already fallen sleep on one of the lobby couches. Nancy was sitting across from Linda, looking at a small children's book, Tommy and Jam went over to sit with Nancy, while Slash went over to sit with Linda.  
  
Linda stirred awake as Slash sat down. She looked at who was next to her, and sat up. "I'm sorry I kind of didn't ask if you guys wanted to stay." Linda said to Slash and everyone, "I had assumed wrongly, and, well, if you want to go, Yanci will give you a ride." The kids all looked to each other, then all decided to stay.  
  
Slash had begun to move closer to Linda, to strike up a conversation. Linda was looking at the glass table they had in the middle of the hospital, still in thought of her mother. "Hey, you gonna be alright Linda?" Slash said to Linda. "I think I'll be alright." Linda replied, not turning to look at Slash. Slash put his hand on Linda's back, and continued to talk, "Look, I know even I can be the biggest jerk of the world, and so can Jam, Tommy, you, heck, even Nancy can be a jerk sometimes, but though the thing you should know is that we're all still a team, we all are together to have fun, and to put a smile on each other's faces, even if we don't like each other at times for things we do. If you have any problems like this, or anything on your mind, it's not bad to just come out to us and tell it, we'll be here with you!" Linda once again, smiled at Slash, this time even giving him a hug. "I think you'd be right Slash." Linda said, "We can be brats, but we're always friends." She smiled again, and slowly fell asleep right on Slash's lap.  
  
Slash, not EVER expecting his rival to be sleeping right in his lap, looked around to the other kids for any sort of help. Jam looked at who was asleep on Slash's lap, and motioned he wouldn't even touch her. Nancy already had gone to sleep in her seat, and Tommy went back to the bathroom. Slash looked down at Linda again, completely baffled as to what do to, so he did the only thing he knew he could do without getting Linda into a nasty fit, he went to sleep sitting up, letting Linda rest her head on his leg as she had been doing, even putting his hand on her head to help her sleep.  
So the kids slept, though some uncomfortably, some slept rather calmly than others. Then morning came, the doors opened, the nurses and doctors began moving around again, and finally the kids began to awaken.  
  
Slash awakened to find that Jam had rolled over onto the ground during the night, still sleeping even on the hard tile ground. Nancy had gone peacefully to sleep in her seat, while Tommy was snoring loudly in two seats. Linda was still asleep on Slash's leg, Slash looked down to still see her, and realized his leg was getting numb. He wanted to get Linda off his leg, but didn't want to wake her; finally, he gave up, and decided it's now or never.  
  
He slowly attempted to wake up Linda, who seemed to be sleeping tranquilly; it seems the night had allowed her to finally calm down. Linda blinked a bit, slowly waking up, she rose from lying down, stretching her rested arms and legs, and sat up in her seat. "Morning Linda." Slash said to Linda as she got up off his leg. "Mm?" Linda said sleepily as she still was awakening, she then realized it was Slash, she looked to him and nodded, "Hello Slash, how'd you sleep?" Linda asked Slash. "Well, aside from you sleeping on my leg, I suppose I was alright." Slash replied, Linda gave Slash a funny look, then got up out of her seat. "I wonder how my mom is doing." Linda asked herself, running to the elevator. The sound of her shoes on the tile had awakened a very tired Jam, who found out he was on the floor. "Huh? How'd I end up down here?" Jam said as he got up, he tried stretching out, but the firmness of the tile floor had taken a bit of a toll on his limbs, so uncomfortable, he felt more pain than pleasure by stretching. "Ah, ouch." Jam said as he felt some of his joints pop a bit as he got up, his squirming had awakened Tommy, who let out a loud snort as he woke up. "Uh, mealtime already?" Tommy asked towards Slash's direction. "Please, Tommy, not now." Slash replied. Finally, Nancy woke up, and she must have slept the best of all, besides Linda who had her own type of pillow *Slash's leg*. Nancy got up and did a few jumps before she started looking around. "Where's Linda?" Nancy asked, then she noticed Linda as the elevator door closed while Linda was in it. "She's already going!" Nancy yelled to the other kids.  
  
The other kids wasted no time in taking the other elevator, though they were already behind Linda, they hoped to meet her at the door. They were too late, for Linda had already gone into her mother's room, before they opened the door; they looked at each other, hoping Linda would be ok. Slash put his ear to the door, listening, he made out a sound that sounded like Linda crying again. "Uh, guys, I don't think it's gonna be pretty in there, she's crying, I hope she's alright." Slash said to everyone as he pulled away from the door.  
  
They slowly opened the door, and what they found inside was not a scene of sadness, but a scene of rejoice. Slash and the rest of the kids excluding Linda found Mrs. Maltinie sitting up in her bed, hugging a crying, yet very happy Linda. Slash looked over at Linda and Mrs. Maltinie, and raised an eyebrow. "For a minute I thought she was actually gone, I heard you crying on the other side of the door Linda." Slash said to Linda. Linda looked over to Slash, speaking, "No, no, she's going to be okay, look, her temperature went down, she's at 101.2 for now, she's dropping her temperature fast! She's gonna be okay!" Linda sniffled a bit as she said that, going back into her mother's arms and continuing to hug her. "Darling, its ok." Mrs. Maltinie said as she pet Linda on the head, "I should be home tomorrow at this rate. You go with your friends now, when I get home, I want to see you smiling again Linda."  
  
Linda gave a bright smile to her mother, and cheerfully looked to the other kids. "She's going to be alright, I'm so relieved." Linda said, a little bit of worry still in her. "But now I think it's time we go, let's let my mom get some sleep." Linda took out her cell phone and dialed up Yanci. "Yanci, my mom's fine! She told us to go home for now, pick us up here at the hospital and take us to the house, I want to share something with everyone." Linda spoke into the phone quickly, "Yes Ms. Maltinie, I'll have the foyer set up for your guests." Yanci replied as he acknowledged Linda. Linda hung up the phone, put it away, and began running to the elevator. "C'mon everyone!" she said, with some now renewed spirit, "I got something to talk to you all about!"  
  
The kids followed her, but were confused as to what she was talking about. They met Yanci down in the hospital lobby and were soon on their way to Linda's House again, when they arrived, the kids all sat down in Linda's foyer, and Linda went in between them all and began speaking.  
  
"Alright." she started, "First of all, I want to thank, each, and every one of you for coming to see my mom. I know I am not exactly the nicest and sweetest girl in Snow Town, but I do really appreciate you guys coming and helping me in my time of need. In return, I want to do something to thank you for all of your help. So, Yanci, bring it in."  
  
Almost on cue, Yanci began pushing a very large big screen TV into the foyer, the kids noticed a DVD and VCR at the bottom, as well as more game systems then they could even imagine! All of the kids stared as Yanci plugged the TV in, Linda then continued to talk. "For the rest of the day, I want you all to be as happy as you can be, I'll even allow you to Snowboard on my own house's course!" The kids cheered with delight at Linda's generosity, they quickly scattered and began starting to play different things. Tommy and Jam quickly took over the big screen TV; they began reading through what DVDs and videos Linda had in stock. Nancy on the other hand, went quickly to the top of Linda's course, and began to start practicing her tricks. Slash went over to Linda, looking at her as she went to sit on the foyer couch. "Linda, I have something for you as well." Slash said. Linda looked over at Slash and wondered what he was talking about. Linda was surprised to see her own Star Board in Slash's hands. "You're, giving this back to me?" Linda asked. Slash nodded, and continued to speak. "I did some thinking, you suffered a lot the past few days, I don't think I need to add to that suffering." Linda's eyes almost twinkled with her tears, as she smiled wide, and almost tackled Slash with the biggest hug she'd ever given anyone. Slash was quite surprised at this, but then welcomed the hug, putting his head next to hers.  
  
Linda was very thankful of both Slash's kindness to her, and the fate of her mother, that her mother would continue to live. The day continued quite well, it was quite a festive rest of the day at Linda's house, and more things would happen to the Snowboard Kids in time to come.  
  
But that's another story.  
  
-Michael Melendez  
  
Comments from the Author: I hope you all liked the first volume of "The Snowboard Kids {A FanFic} Volume 1" Volume 2 will soon be started on, so keep yourselves ready for it, because there will be many more volumes to come. 


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